Kesubos - Daf 68
- בואו ונחזיק טובה לרמאין
Beginning at the bottom of Daf 67b, the Gemara relates that Rebbe Chanina would send four zuz every erev Shabbos to a certain pauper. One time he sent the money with his wife and when she returned, she told him that he does not need the money, for she heard him telling people he liked to eat on expensive tablecloths. Rebbe Chanina replied that if the pauper is in fact wealthy, this is an example of what Rebbe Elazar said: בואו ונחזיק טובה לרמאין – Come let us show gratitude to the swindlers, who pretend to be paupers to collect tzedakah, שאלמלא הן היינו חוטאין בכל יום – for if not for them we would be sinning daily. Rashi explains that we would be sinning for ignoring the needs of the poor. But now that there are swindlers, we have an excuse for distrusting them. For the passuk states: And your eye will be evil against your needy brother and refuse to give to him, וקרא עליך אל ה' והיה בך חטא – and he will cry against you to Hashem, and it will be a sin upon you.
- Assessing the dowry for an orphan girl
The next Mishnah states: יתומה שהשיאתה אמה או אחיה מדעתה – If an orphan was married off by her mother or her brother with her consent, and they wrote for her a small dowry of one hundred or fifty zuz, יכולה היא משתגדיל להוציא מידן מה שראוי להנתן לה – when she gets older, she can exact from them the sum of money that is fit to be given to her. Rebbe Yehudah says: If the father married off the first daughter ינתן לשניה כדרך שנתן לראשונה – a dowry should be given to the second daughter in the same manner he gave to the first daughter. But the Chochomim say: פעמים שאדם עני והעשיר או עשיר והעני – Sometimes a person is poor and becomes rich or is rich and becomes poor. אלא שמין את הנכסים ונותנין לה – Rather, we appraise the estate he left and give her the appropriate amount. The Gemara brings Shmuel, who said: לפרנסה שמין באב – To determine how much she receives for her dowry from the estate, we evaluate the father. Rashi explains that we assess the character of the father in terms of generosity, whether he is a וותרן או קמצן – a generous person or a miser. The Gemara attempts to challenge Shmuel’s position and will discuss how his ruling relates to those in the Mishnah.
- פרנסה אינה כתנאי כתובה
Rav Huna said in the name of Rebbe: פרנסה אינה כתנאי כתובה – An orphan’s right to a dowry is not the same as her right from the תנאי כתובה, such as her right to sustenance. After the first two explanations of Rebbe’s statement are rejected, the Gemara says it is in line with what was taught in Baraisa:אין שומעין לו האומר אל יזונו בנותיו מנכסיו – If one says, referring to a father at the time of his death, that his daughters should not be sustained by his estate, we do not listen to him. But if he says:אל יתפרנסו בנותיו מנכסיו - his daughters should not be provided with a dowry from his estate, שומעין לו שהפרנסה אינה כתנאי כתובה – we listen to him, because the right to a dowry is not the same as the right from the tannai kesubah. Rashi explains that whereas the chiyuv to provide sustenance is the father’s, the chiyuv to provide the dowry for his orphaned daughter is on his heirs, in a case when the father did not give instructions to not provide her with one.
